


Draco Malfoy's scandalous Marriage

by Coclico



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 6th year, Curses, F/M, Hermione is supportive, Lucius is evil, M/M, Marriage, Married Character, Married Couple, Married Sex, Same-Sex Marriage, Scheming, Secret Marriage, Trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-21
Updated: 2013-04-04
Packaged: 2017-11-10 10:41:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/465360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coclico/pseuds/Coclico
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Draco got married during summerbreak and is overjoyed to be finally together with the love of his life, but his happiness will be endangered as soon as he returns to Hogwarts with his spouse. Never mind that his father is opposed to his choice ...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rumors/Prolog

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything, Harry Potter and his friend's and enemies are all JKR's.
> 
> I think I started this story back in 2009, not sure though. And English is not my native tongue so please forgive me my mistakes.
> 
> Also, I'd love to find somebody to beta the latest chapter, which will hopefully finished by the end of the summer (yeah, I'm a low writer ^^), so ... any volunteers?
> 
> Comments are always welcome :-)

"You'll never guess what my mum told us this weekend.", Ginny said with a grin on her freckled face. She was sitting in the Gryffindor common room, surrounded by the usual group. "Are you talking about that Malfoy thing? I still don't believe it.", her older brother Ron joined the conversation. Hermione Granger was getting curious. "What are you two talking about? What's the matter with Malfoy?"  
"Yeah, what did the ferret do this time?", Harry aksed while he caressed Ginny's hair affectionally. "Well, according to our mum, he got married this summer.", Ron proclaimed. As soon as those words had left his mouth, voices started to speak all at the same time.

"Oh my god, I heard that rumor too"

"Yeah, so did I."

"Maybe his parents forced him to do it."

"Maybe he knocked up some random pure-blood girl."

"If that's the case I pity that poor girl, being married to that idiot must be hell on earth."

"Are you guys discussing Malfoy's recent wedding?", Dean Thomas, who had just entered the room, asked with an amused look on his face and got a few confirming nods from his fellow Gryffindors. "In that case I'll be able to provide you with quite interesting information." He made a short break to increase the suspence.

"I happened to pass McGonegall in a hallway just after the banquet. She was talking to Snape out of all people. I was minding my own business when all of a sudden I overheard a bit of their conversation when I walked near them. Seriously, what I heard creeped me out. She said: I never thought I would have a Malfoy in Gryffindor . . . Apparently Snape had the same opinion."

The flood of conversation started all over again.

"A Gryffindor? That can't be!"

"He really must have knocked up somebody."

"But then rumors about a pregnancy would have spread."

"A traitor among us?"

"Maybe they married because they really were in love…"

"At sixteen?"

"I doubt Malfoy is even capable to love."

During all that time, Ron had remained oddly silent but as the babble of voices came to an end, he explained in an unusually calm voice what was on his mind: "Malfoy's family never would have let him marry somebody who's not a pureblood, even if they would be pregnant. That's just not like them. Besides, many old wizarding families are quite strict concerning sex before marriage. So I highly doubt that an unplanned pregnancy was the reason for him getting married.  
It will be easy to find out who his wife is – the number of pure-blooded witches in Gryffindor is limited and I guess we can exclude at least all students in the first and second year. We just have to look at the hands too. A pure-blooded girl with a weeding ring on her finger shouldn't be that hard to find."

Everybody agreed with him, although they were surprised to hear such a logical reasoning coming out of the redhead's mouth. They came to the conclusion that all of them should pay close attention to every Gryffindor girl's hands in order to discover who Draco Malfoy's spouse was.

Little did they suspect what a shock it would be when they would finally find out.


	2. Revelations

It wasn't like Hermione Granger, Hogwarts' top student, to chat during lessons, especially not during professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class. But she was a curious person and she considered Neville one of her closest friends.

"You didn't sit with us in the Hogwarts Express, nobody saw you at the banquet, you didn't show up in the common room and on top of that your bed has vanished from the boys' dormitory! I'm starting to get worried! If it weren't for the fact that you are sitting next to me right now I would have contacted your grandmother sooner or later. … Nev, are you even listening to me?"

As a matter of fact, the dark blond haired boy wasn't even aware that his friend was talking to him. Neville's thoughts were consumed by yesterday night's events. Actually, nothing unusual had occurred, it was a single phrase, a mere sentence, which preoccupied him. Last night, like every other night since their wedding, he had slept with his husband. Draco had chosen a gentle, almost lazy pace to move smoothly between Neville's spread legs. All of a sudden however, without a word of warning, his grip on the other's hips had tightened and his thrusts had become a lot faster and harder. Neville had had to bury his face in a pillow to muffle his moans and almost missed his consort's words.

"I … can't wait to … knock … you up."

Thinking back, the sixteen-year-old had to blush. Those words made him think. He knew that those were probably words said in the heat of passion and that he shouldn't worry his pretty little head about it as Draco would put it, but he couldn't help it. The words kept repeating themselves in his head over and over again.

"I can't wait to knock you up."

He had known long before their wedding that they were going to have children. They had decided to wait a few more years though and so the Gryffindor had never thought about it in detail. The idea of Draco's seed taking root in him, of a life growing inside him … He imagined himself being swollen with Draco's child, their child, imagined the blond one caressing his belly while paying attention to their baby's movements.

"I can't wait to knock you up."

He pictured his husband with a faceless bundle of covers in his arms, imagined family pictures, but he also remembered the times him and the Malfoy heir had played "family" when they were children. Still, the idea of him expecting Draco's child was the one that preoccupied him most …

"I can't … Mr Malfoy, would you be so kind as to pay attention to what I'm trying to teach you?"

Hearing his new name for the first time made his ears turn scarlet. He stiffened in his seat, straightened his back and gave his teacher an apoplectic look. Little did he know that his husband, who was sitting two rows further back, had a similar reaction, so that nobody would suspect Neville of being the new Mr Malfoy.

All of this, however, didn't go unnoticed by Hermione. "Neville", she said after some hesitation, "did you listen to me at all?"

And this was where Neville made a crucial mistake. Hermione had not wanted to jump to conclusions but now that the brown-eyed boy clasped his left hand over his mouth and apologised quietly, it was obvious. There it was – perching on his left ring finger – a golden Claddagh ring with a heart made out of a deep green emerald. Being the intelligent girl she was, she quickly put two and two together.

She wanted to open her mouth to say something but at exactly that moment the bell rang and everybody, including Neville, stormed out. All Hermione was capable of for the next five minutes was starring blankly at the spot where Neville had been sitting moments ago.

Fact number one: Neville being nowhere near the other Gryffindors for almost two days.

Fact number two: Neville snapping out of his trance-like daydreaming and the noticeable change in his body language when hearing the name Malfoy.

Fact number three: Him wearing a ring which was very likely to be a wedding ring.

Fact number four: He was a pureblood.

Fact number five: Draco was married to a Gryffindor.

Conclusion: Draco Malfoy and Neville were married.

 

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"Guys! Guys!" Hermione almost screamed when she stormed into the common room. "You'll never – ever – believe me!"

She approached Harry and Ron who were playing chess in a calm corner near one of the windows.

"I found out who Malfoy is ma – ".  
She actually had wanted to say "who Malfoy is married to" but the sight of Neville looking lost as he stood nervously in the middle of the room made her stop abruptly and so she screamed "Neville!" instead. The boy seemed to have gotten the fright of his life but still walked over to the golden trio hesitantly.

"Neville, mate, we all thought you were ill and were staying at your grandmother's for a bit longer. How have you been? How was your summer?" Ron greeted him while Harry just nodded and smiled silently.

"This summer was the best one of my life so far." he answered honestly, a broad smile forming on his face. "I spent half of it exploring my new-found sexuality.", he thought to himself. They didn't have the opportunity to exchange more words though, because the Fat Lady's portrait opened to make the tall figure that was Draco Malfoy appear in the entrance.

"What the hell are YOU doing here?" Harry shouted over to him and stood up at once. Ron did the same, knocking over the chess board in the process.

"I assure you I have every right to be here." the blond boy said coolly. Then, spotting what he had been looking for, he started to smirk and walked over to them. "Believe me I don't particularly enjoy being in this lousy tower of yours. My only reason for being here is because my spouse insisted."

Hermione went pale as she heard Malfoy referring to Neville as his spouse. She turned slightly green as Neville hid his face in the Slytherin's chest the next moment, murmuring "I didn't insist on it, I only asked you to."

"Yeah, you're right. But in some way I had to come or else I would miss Potter's, Weasley's and bookworm's reactions."

Ron's and Harry's reaction could indeed be seen as entertaining, but Neville preferred to keep his face in his husband's chest. Ron's face first went white then red and his features were twisted with what looked like rage before a loud shout erupted from his throat.

"Neville how could you? Traitor! Filthy traitor! Have you gone insane? Don't you remember everything he put us through? Have you forgotten that his father is a god damn Deatheater for crying out loud! What has gotten into you? Did you –"

Thankfully Harry, who had turned an even paler colour than Hermione interrupted him. "Ron stop it! Don't accuse Neville, I simply can't imagine how this whole marriage thing could have been his idea. The Malfoys must have forced this upon him, it must be one of their malicious plans. There is no way … what the hell are you laughing at Malfoy?"

Said blond had started to chuckle and put his arm over his lover's shoulders.

"I'm amused, scar head, because every single word you said was utter rubbish."

"Quit you lying!"

"I'm not lying! I don't know if you've noticed but my father is in Azkaban. He was the only reason why we didn't get married sooner."

That got all three of them stunned. Lucius Malfoy had been opposed to the marriage?

"Neville I think you owe us an explanation."

"He doesn't OWE you anything, mudblood."

"Stop calling her that, you know I don't like it."

Everyone was startled. Neville was still leaning against Draco but had finally turned his face towards the others.

"After all we've been through in the ministry they deserve an explanation. … But please let's go somewhere more private."

Only now did the golden trio realise that every single person in the common room was openly starring at them. No wonder with all that shouting.

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They went up the stairs to the boy's dormitory without exchanging another word and Draco took the opportunity to take Neville's shaking hand in his reassuringly. Ron, Harry and Hermione settled on one bed, Draco and Neville sat on a bed opposite them. After Draco had stopped starring the others down, Hermione started to speak again.

"So, Neville … do I assume right that you married Malfoy out of love?"

Nod.

"You weren't forced into anything? No arranged marriage?"

Nod. Nod.

This time it was Harry who couldn't hold back his curiosity.

"So you two have been like –"he swallowed "- together?"

Nod.

"But for how long?"

Silence.

"… Since we are ten…"

"WHAT???"

"But how is that even possible?"

"It's a long story."

"We have time."

Unsure about what he should do, Neville, who was still trembling a bit, looked into Draco's expressionless face. His stone-like features softened however as he saw his husband's desperate expression. He signed and talked for the first time since entering the room: "Go on, tell them, I know it's important to you." The three Gryffindors sitting on the opposite bed were surprised by those words, for they had been said in a soft manner. A warm smile appeared on Neville's face and he had to suppress the urge to lean in and kiss those thin pale lips. He signed softly.

"About a week after my tenth birthday, the Malfoys had organised an enormous party which lasted a whole week. I think all the purebloods from England, except the so called blood traitors, were invited. And so, on the 8th of August, in the gardens of Malfoy Manor, Draco and I first met. We got along pretty well, though we both found each other extremely strange. We spent most of our time together, playing, talking, observing the adults, … You know how children are, feelings develop quickly. By the end of the week we were hopelessly in love. From there on I was invited on a regular basis. It only took Draco four months to steal my first kiss."

He interrupted his speech as a look of disgust appeared on Harry's face, Hermione turned slightly green again and Ron made a small gagging noise.

"Anyway … it didn't took Lucius Malfoy long to discover our affection for one another. He separated us immediately and forbid me to ever come over again. His plan worked for a couple of months but unfortunately for him Hogwarts reunited us. We had to hide our relationship though, or else Zabini, Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy Parkinson or another Slytherin would have informed Draco's father. Everything changed in third year, when Draco proposed to me and –"

"At thirteen?" Harry and Hermione exclaimed at the same time.

"It's not THAT unusual among old wizard families." Ron said darkly.

"We didn't get engaged because of our families." The blond Slytherin replied in a cold voice and Neville nodded in agreement. "No we didn't. In fact, Draco had been so overjoyed that I had accepted his proposal that he informed his mother. His father however found the letter he had written to her before she did and so … well, let's say he was enraged, to put it mildly."

"That's putting it very mildly indeed! He almost managed to break up our engagement."

"He prohibited us to show our affection openly at school, so we had to keep up appearances. It tormented both of us, but we never gave up! We even tried to blackmail Mr Malfoy, but without success, he never gave in. So, as soon as he was … as he was …"

"Out of the way?" Harry offered which earned him a death glare from Draco.

"Well, we were finally able to get married on the 8th of August; with my gran's and Narcissa Malfoy's blessings."

Neville had a wide smile spread across his face as he finished his explanations and even the corner of the young Malfoy heir's mouth had turned upwards a bit.


	3. Chapter 3

"I still can't believe that Neville is a Malfoy now." Seamus Finnigan said as he put his pyjama on. "And they were holding hands the whole time?"

"Yeah. It was just plain weird. I'm just glad they didn't kiss – I think I would have puked." Ron confirmed.

"It seems so unreal." Harry commented although he had seen the evidences with his own eyes.

The dormitory looked strangely empty without Neville's bed, which had been removed because married couples got other, separate rooms to sleep in.

Once everyone was lying in their beds, Harry voiced something that had been haunting him since their conversation with the two Mister Malfoys: "I wonder what arguments Neville and Malfoy used to try to pressure Lucius Malfoy into letting them getting married."

"Easy." Ron answered. "As I told you before, in old pure-blood wizard families, sex before marriage is frowned upon. They probably threatened him that they'll sleep with each other or even worse: to conceive a child!"

There was a short silence.

"But they couldn't possibly do that – conceive a child I mean – they're both men!"

Ron looked at his best friend as if he was a complete retard. But soon he realised that Dean and Seamus wore equally confused looks on their faces.

"There are various spells and potions which could enable them to do so. It's nothing unusual, really. Men giving birth … I mean it happens everyday. It's the same for two women of course."

The three half-bloods who had grown up among muggles had a hard time to cope with those ideas. Debates broke out.

When the topic finally came back to their friend's marriage it was well past two o'clock in the morning and all four of them were exhausted.

"I can't believe Neville is spreading his legs for that git." Dean exclaimed and everybody's expression turned into one of disgust at the mental image.

"And I can't believe they truly love each other." Seamus said.

Little did the Irish boy know that his words kept repeating themselves in Harry's head all night long.

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"Harry, you don't look good. Did you not sleep well?" Hermione asked the next morning half way through breakfast.

The boy-who-lived indeed had dark circles under his eyes and seemed exhausted. He had hardly slept that night. He had laid awake most of the time, thinking and rethinking about every little detail concerning Neville and his consort. He was absolutely sure that Malfoy didn't love the clumsy boy. Neville had been tricked, he just knew it. Draco would become a Deatheater sooner or later, if he wasn't one already, but now that he was married to a boy whose parents had been tortured by Deatheaters, by Draco's own aunt, a boy who was a friend of Harry Potter, nobody would ever suspect him of being one of Voldemort's minions. All Malfoy had to do was acting as if he loved Neville, propose to him and he had a perfect protection. Harry had always known Draco had a highly developed sense of self-preservation. But this time he couldn't possibly approve of it, a friend of his was concerned after all!

"Oh my god! Harry, look over there!" Ron said pointing at the Slytherin table. Neville was sitting between a tired looking Blaise Zabini and Draco, listening to whatever his husband had to say. Everyone around them seemed to ignore them.

"So this is why we didn't see Neville during the banquet … The Slytherins don't seem to approve of their marriage as well."

"Speak for yourself Ron. I think that if Malfoy really makes Neville happy than we should accept it. He made his choice, so there's nothing we can do about it anyway. Besides they really made the impression of being in love yesterday, we shouldn't oppose ourselves to that."

"What the hell have you been smoking, Hermione? How can you say something like that?" Harry exclaimed, shocked by her statement. He decided to tell his friends about what he suspected.

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Hermione Granger couldn't believe it. Harry could be so mistrustful sometimes. But the worst part was that Ron thought that what he had said was "credible enough".

The muggle-born was an intelligent and rational person. Luna and she were Neville's closest friends and they both knew that the shy boy was rather sensitive and humble, so that his partner was male didn't surprise the top student at all.

She also had no doubt that Neville's feelings for the Malfoy heir were sincere. Neville had never looked at anybody the way he had looked at Malfoy yesterday and his body language had indicated that he was seeking protection and comfort from the blond one.

The way they had interacted … as if it was the most natural thing in the world, although she had detected hesitation in their actions. But she guessed that this was due to them holding back in front of the three Gryffindors.

She had also noticed Draco's almost-smile and the softness and affection with which the words he had directed to Neville had been spoken. If Draco was really just taking advantage of her friend and was only using him, then something would have betrayed him. Hermione had paid close attention and nothing, not a single little thing, had indicated that Malfoy didn't want Neville to be around or that he found his attempts to be close to him repulsive. Nothing.

It was quite the opposite actually. She could have sworn that the Slytherin had leaned into the Gryffindor's touches and the looks he had given her friend had been warm and full of familiarity.

Yes, Hermione definitely believed that their union had been made because of love. She wanted to believe it. Harry was just being paranoid as usual.

Smiling to herself she continued her way to the common room. Her thoughts started to turn around a problem she recently had had in Defences Against the Dark A-

CLASH!

As she had turned around a corner a sudden wave of pain shot through the right part of her body and before she had the chance to realise what was happening she fell backwards. She quickly discovered that she had bumped into someone.

She looked up while rubbing her behind and held her breath. Draco Malfoy was starring down at her. His storm grey eyes showed a little bit of surprise but where otherwise calm.

After a few seconds of silence the blond teenager stretched his hand in Hermione's direction. The girl's disbelieve could clearly be read on her face but she still hesitantly took the hand that was offered to her and got up.

The Slytherin let go of her hand immediately afterwards. Then he nodded, said "Granger" in his usual cold voice and just walked away. Just like that. As if nothing had happened.

Hermione was stunned. No insults, no sneering. He had called her by her actual name. It had happened before but it was still rare. Usually it was "Mudblood", "Know-It-All", "Bookworm" or something like that. But what made the brown-haired girl wonder the most was that he had offered her his help. He hadn't looked disgusted when she had taken his hand and it hadn't been some kind of trick either.

Did Neville have so much influence over his consort?


	4. Nothing but the truth

Draco Malfoy felt a shiver go down his spine. He could have sworn he felt eyes following him.  
He turned around.  
Nothing. Nobody.  
He was alone in a deserted corridor. Was he getting paranoid? His steps became quicker. For once in his life he couldn't wait to finally be in class.

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Hermione was sitting next to a beet red Neville, who had just miserably failed to perform a simple charm to turn his pencil into a worm.

"Poor Neville" she thought, "I wonder why he's not bad when it comes to spells we learned during our DA meetings but is doing so poorly when it comes to common spells like this."

But her mind didn't occupy itself with her friend for long; she was far too concerned about another matter.

"You didn't happen to come across Harry and Ron today, Nev?" Unable to speak yet, a soft shake of his still pretty pink head was the only response she got.

This was already their third period and Harry and his best friend seemed to have vanished since breakfast, which worried the brown haired star student a bit. She just hoped they weren't scheming anything.

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"Do you realize that this is second year all over again? Hiding behind a statue, wands ready, a broom closet nearby and waiting for our chance to interrogate Malfoy. This seriously feels like a déjà-vu."

"Now that you mention it …"

Ron Weasley and his best friend whispered under the invisibility cloak, while they more or less patiently observed a certain blond pupil's every step.

"Malfoy will have the surprise of his life! He won't see what's coming to him." The redhead exclaimed, grinning, to which the boy-who-lived replied gleefully: "Yeah, I can't wait to see the shocked look on Mister I-am-an-almighty-pureblood's face!"

It was by far easier than expected to overwhelm Malfoy when you had the element of surprise on your side. And so, a few minutes, a "Petrificus Totalus" and a silent scream later, Harry and Ron were carrying a petrified Malfoy into a dirty broom closet.  
Ron had to suppress his whimpers when he caught sight of the countless spiders crawling among the inch-deep dust.  
There weren't any candles so they had to use their wands to provide light.  
They took their sweet time taking the blond one's wand away and tying him up before freeing him from the spell.

"Fucking sons of bitches! Have you gone insane? What has gotten into you? I swear you'll pay for this! I always knew you were complete retards …"

"You can yell all you want Malfoy, nobody's going to hear you in here. And nobody is going to miss you for the next couple of hours either so you might as well cooperate." Harry said in a cold but agitated voice.

"Cooperate? With you and Weasel? Never!"

"I think you don't have much of a choice." Ron signed.

"W-what do you mean? What the hell is even going on here?"

"We just want to have a nice little chat with you."

"But of course, since you are filthy lying ferret we could never trust what you tell us to be true and so, we prepared a little something for you." The black-haired teenager said while waving a small bottle filled with a clear substance in it in front of Draco's pale face.

"Veritaserum?" The Slytherin stuttered, clearly panicked.

"Now, we can do this the easy or the hard way, whichever you like best."

For a few moments Draco was deep in thoughts with a blank expression on his face. If he struggled they would find one way or another to force him to drink it. He signed softly. They clearly had the upper hand, there was no use trying to fight them, it would only cause him unnecessary discomfort or even pain to try.

He wordlessly opened his mouth to signal that he didn't plan to put up any resistance. He tried not to think too much about what the consequences would be as he swallowed the potion. Watching the two other males he waited for his inquisition to begin.

"We'll start with a few standard questions." Harry started again, "What's your full name."

"Draco Lucius Malfoy."

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"Which House are you in?"

"Slytherin."

"Well I think that's enough, let's get serious."

The two best friends looked at each other, not knowing where to start.

"This whole ten-year-olds falling in love crap seems a bit farfetched." Harry stated, to which Ron nodded eagerly.

"Yeah, it's time to confess. You didn't really fall in love with Neville, did you?"

"So this is what it's all about!" Draco exclaimed, his expression turning grimmer.

"Don't try to avoid answering. Did you get together with Neville because of love or not?"

…

"I admit it! It wasn't love, at least not at the beginning. He was more like a … a … some sort of rescue ring, although I didn't quite realize it back then. In the middle of this sea of people who heard without listening, who talked without speaking, including my own father he was like … I don't recall clearly what he was to me back then, but I remember I liked comparing Neville to a candle in the darkness. He illuminated every room he entered with this weak but warm shine called personality. I wanted to be near him like a moth to the light simply because he was different. All the other kids kept their distances for the same reason I felt attracted to him, which made the whole situation all the more intriguing. He was frightened by all those distant and cold adults and never mind his shyness. I just loved the attention he gave me when I played his protector. There is no need denying that I'm a proud and arrogant person, Neville's admiration just fueled my ego even further.  
In third year I really started to fall in love. And then this whole Sirius Black incident happened. I didn't feel safe anymore, although I had believed Hogwarts to be the securest place in the world back then. For the first time in my life I was scared for somebody other than myself. Black obviously tried to get into the Gryffindor Tower and I was … I was …"

Anyone could see that he visibly didn't want to finish his sentence, but the Veritaserum in his system made the need to go on telling the truth unable to ignore.

"I was scared shitless by the mere thought of what could possibly happen to Neville. The idea that he could disappear and not be a part of my life any more frightened me to no end. And so I … one night when I felt relatively safe I … I asked him if he wanted to share his life with me. God, we were so young, so incredibly young and inexperienced! Only since a few months do I start to comprehend what I got myself into. But I don't regret it, not at all. I tried imagining my life without Neville and although it wasn't even real I still felt this emptiness, as if I didn't have a purpose no more. Being with Neville just feels so right! I wonder why a caring person with so much warmth got married to somebody like me."

Ron and Harry couldn't fathom it either.

"So …" Ron said, swallowing, " I take it you love him now … and definitively don't mean him any harm?"

"Of course I don't want to hurt him! Except if being married to me is hurtful that is. Even if it would pain him to be with me, I don't think I could let him go, at least not easily.  
And yes I do love him, more than my own flesh and blood."

Thinking about his father, the blond teen couldn't help but sign, a distant look upon his face.

"My father cursed me the last time he saw me, knowing that now that he was out of the picture, my wedding would soon take place. 'You'll see!' he had screamed. 'Your son will have a greater connection to the Dark Lord than any of us! I can already hear Longbottom's cries.'"

The Malfoy heir swallowed hard at the memory and took a few deep breaths before regaining his cool and starting to talk once more.

"Is there anything else you desire to know?"

"Yeah, just one last question then you are free to go.  
Are you a deatheater or do you have any intention of becoming one in the future?" Harry asked, becoming a bit uncomfortable with this whole situation.

"No," Draco answered, of course truthfully. "They consider me a traitor and wouldn't want me in their ranks. Besides … how could I ever do that to him?"

A sudden silence fell upon the three young wizards. Without saying another word, but with what seemed to be guilt in their eyes, Harry and Ron untied the person who had been their arch nemesis for the past couple of years. They didn't manage to look at his face after the blond teenager had dusted himself off and looked at them with an empty expression.

"… We won't bother you again." The black haired boy finally broke the pregnant silence, still unable to meet the Slytherin's glaze. There was a huge "Sorry" that hung heavily in the air, but neither Harry nor Ron where ready to say it out loud yet and Draco sure as hell wasn't ready to accept it.

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A line of worry had formed on Neville Malfoy's forehead. It wasn't like his husband to simply disappear without telling him. The wrinkle between his brows didn't vanish when Draco showed up again all of a sudden. The blond seemed even paler than usual and he had a dark look on his face. He walked past Neville, anger noticeable in his every step.

"Don't even ask." he muttered gloomily.

And so Neville didn't. Instead he did his best to keep up with his fuming spouse and murmured a timid: "I missed you."

To the outside world it may have seemed as if the blond hadn't acknowledged the Gryffindor's words, but Neville took the fingers, which hesitantly laced together with his, as a sign that his husband had missed him also.


End file.
